Dmitry I of Russia

Dmitri I or Dmitry I Nikolaevich Romanov (15 November [O.S. 3 November] 1895 – 5 December 1993), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Dmitry the Courageous, was the last warrior-tsar who reigned as Emperor of Russia. The succeeding Tsar [Dmitry II] and later on the Tsarina's were all constitutional monarchs who rejected the principle of "divine right of the kings", preferring to rule by their constitutional mandate and maintain a shielded family life. He was the succeeding King of Congress Poland and the Grand Duke of Finland, who ascended to the throne after Czar Nicholas II of Russia. His reign began in 15 November [O.S. 3 November] 1895, the very day he was born, as his father abdicated several hours before his birth - thus the country was administrated underneath a regency period for the first several years of his reign, until he turned 19, after which he claimed the Imperial throne and dissolved the regency. He would reign until his death by an aggressive form of skin cancer on 5 December 1993. During his reign, Dmitry gave support to extensive political and economical reforms, which gradually moved the Russian Empire towards a path of reformation, transitioning the country into a democratic monarchy, thus putting the true power into the hands of the Russian State Duma. Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin were members of his government and two of his key advisers. Throughout his reign, his activities were publicly documented by the wider Russian media and internationally, where wise-spread criticism of the young Czar and his two Czarina's was well-documented. During the duration of the Great Game between the Russians and the British, Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland attempted to form an matrimonial alliance with the Czar and his two Czarina's, the Russian State Duma was horrified by the news and rejected the plans immediately as they feared the anger of the Czar and the two Czarina's if they dared to tell them. During the first year of his reign, Dmitry was not married and thus his heir apparent was Grand Duke Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich, upon his marriage to Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, as well as the subsequent birth of his eldest daughters: Grand Duchesses Victoria, Elizabeth and Mary, the fears that Czar Dmitry would never father a son became realized, though with the birth of Dmitry's two eldest sons: Dmitry II of Russia and Grand Duke Alexander Dmitrovich of Russia, these fears never became reality. Unlike his younger brother, Alexei, and his four sisters, Dmitry was the only non-hemophilic child - something which relieved his paternal relatives.

Appearance and personality
Dmitry had chestnut-blonde hair, bright blue-grey eyes, a broad face, and an upturned nose. He resembled his father, Nicholas II of Russia who reigned for only a short while as Czar. George V, the Czar's first-cousin-once-removed described him as "very fair" with "stern and intelligent eyes and a cold, analytic gaze, which dared people to argue with his decisions." Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, his mother's lady-in-waiting, reflected that "[he] was fair and tall, with stern and intelligent blue-grey eyes, a somewhat short nose,' and lovely teeth." He was considered to have the classical profile of his paternal side of the family, something which endeared him to the Russian people. "As a child he was plain, at fifteen he was able to attract royal women from every single European country and even outside of Europe, people praised his beauty", wrote his mother's friend Lili Dehn. "He was slightly above the medium height, with a fresh complexion, deep blue-green eyes, light chestnut hair, and pretty hands and feet."

Dmitry was serious and dedicated to his duty as the future Czar of Russia, often holding consul with his first-cousin-once-removed, King George V, where he learned most of his diplomatic skills. A harsh and brutally-effective ruler, he didn't relish in war and was rather uninterested in international events that took place outside of the confines of the Russian Empire unless it concerned his British cousins' safety. Although he disliked mingling with British affairs, considering them to be quite cumbersome and bothersome to his Empire's interest, he showed an innate talent for the craft, easily able to maneuver politics with his sharp mind. His fraternal twin sister, Olga Nikolaevna, considered him to be wise, just and a fair but stern ruler who didn't rely on emotions in order to rule but rather used hard-cold statics, facts, reasoning and cunning in order to achieve his objectives. Queen Mary of the United Kingdom remembered that "he was generous, and an appeal to him was met with an immediate response. 'Is that so, then they must receive this money. I have no need for it, so surely they could use the money better," he would say. Though she disliked the Russian Czar, she admired his tenacity, spirit and commitment to stay out of international affairs.

Early life
Dmitry was born alongside his older fraternal twin sister, Olga Nikolaevna on 15 November 1895 at 6:00 whereas Olga was born at 4:00. He was the second-oldest child and son of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra. The birth was difficult on both his mother and his father, with Alexandra being in additional, agonizing labour for 13 hours. Ultimately, Dr. Ott used forceps to deliver Dmitry. He was light as a feather at the initial time of his birth and his parents worried that he had hemophilia - in fact the young prince had slight asthma in his youth. His mother was overjoyed by the birth of a boy but worried about the challenges he would face as the new Czar/Tsar of Russia.

In 1896, Nicholas Alexandra brought Olga and Dmitry on a visit to Scotland, France, and Darmstadt. In Balmoral, Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom, Alexandra's grandmother and Olga and Dmitry's great-grandmother, met them for the first time. Queen Victoria approved of Olga but was disapproved at the appearance of Dmitry, whom she called "exceedingly plain." In France, Olga was very popular. In Darmstadt and Scotland, the stern-looking and mature-looking baby Dmitry was very popular. Nicholas told his mother that "our daughter made a great impression everywhere." In memory of the visit of the new Russian Czar to both Scotland and Darmstadt, the ducal seat of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, coins celebrating the occasion and crowns were made for the baby Czar.

In wide contrast to many Russian Grand Dukes, he was sent to the United Kingdom, where his great-grandmother [Queen Victoria] would raise him. Like his older fraternal sister, Olga, and younger siblings, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei, Dmitry was raised as simply as possible. He slept on a lumpy sofa unless he was ill, took cold baths every morning, learned from the time the sun went up until the sun went down in the evenings and ate simple meals, rather than extravagant meals of the finest qualities meats and cheeses. An admirer of his great-grandmother, Dmitry was a comfort to the aging British monarch who saw him as her own son, though she was hard and often critical of him, her nurturing and private nature helped her shape the young Russian Czar. As he grew up, he began to miss his siblings and when he was fully grown, Queen Victoria sent him back to Russia. As soon as he arrived in Russia, his arrival was greeted with great jubilation, pomp, cheer and pride.

He had five siblings: Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei of Russia. His great-grandmother Queen Victoria was one of his and his older sister Tatiana's godmothers.

Dmitry's full title and style at birth was "His Imperial Highness the Successor Tsesarevich and Grand Duke". His only younger brother, Alexei, was simply awarded the lesser Imperial title of "Tsarevich" as he was not born the heir apparent to the Imperial Throne. This heavily relieved Alexei, causing him to have an warm and loving familia relationship with the stern, firm but fair Dmitry. He was greatly attached to Anastasia, having a warm and loving relationship with her - the two played together, ate together and played pranks together. Due to this, Dmitry was greatly fond of Anastasia and as an adult, often served as her protector whom disapproved of many of Anastasia's suitors.

In 1900, before his brother Alexei was born, her father fell seriously ill. During this period, the empress attempted to persuade her husband to change the succession laws in Russia to allow females to inherit the throne in the absence of any male heirs in order for Olga to inherit the empire, as opposed to her uncle, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. Ultimately, these changes did not take place, during the long reign of Dmitry I, but rather during that of his successor: Czar Dmitry II who had no sons but rather only daughters. Czar Dmitry II changed the succession laws to absolute primogeniture, meaning the eldest would inherit the throne regardless of gender causing an uproar in the Russian Empire.

Engagement and marriage
On 11 January 1909, the 13-year-old Dmitry joined his parents on a trip to the Province of Hanover, where he met the disposed Hanoverian royal family as well as his future wife Princess Alexandra. At first sight, he fell in love with the young princess and wrote to his maternal aunt Princess Irene and his paternal grandmother Czarina Dowager Maria Feodorovna "I have fallen in love with a korolevskiy knyazhna [royal princess] of the former Kingdom of Hanover, I seek your blessings to marry her, for there is no other woman but her that I love." Though her father was a reigning monarch of a German Duchy, Dmitry's parents were reluctant to give their consent to the marriage, preferring Dmitry to marry a European princess of higher status, preferrably Isabella of Orléans. Dmitry refused to consent to marrying Isabella, simply stating that he would renounce his inheritance as heir apparent to the Imperial throne to Alexei. Alexei was horrified and told his father about the possibility of him becoming heir apparent, with his father attempting to dissuade his fears. In the end his wishes were granted and the two were married at the Livadia Palace in Livadiya, Crimea as part of a private civil service, before they ventured to the capital of the Russian Empire, St. Petersburg, with them being married at the Kremlin. The groom's new father-in-law Ernest Augustus presented the couple with an expensive painting of them and all of the Imperial Family; Dmitry was overjoyed by the gift that he even "cried tears of pure elation" and he thanked his new parents-in-law by asking them to be two of his eldest child's [Dmitry II's] godparents.

Relationships with his family, friends and close associates
Dmitry had a close relationship with his family, immediate or otherwise. He was respectful towards his mother and enjoyed the company of his mother. To his close friends, he was kind and amiable, even offering them advice in the hardest times of their life. Though he was treated with a great amount of animosity among his German relatives, purely due to his disregard of Westernized-style life and disdain for generally everything German-associated, excluding his mother and the entire Imperial Family, he didn't see his cousin, the German Emperor Wilhelm II as a worthy ruler and saw him as a "power-crazed maniac" - a view that severely worsened the relationship between the two cousins. His eldest sister-in-law Margravine Maria Louise of Baden was close to her eldest brother-in-law and the two shared a common interest in reading and taking nature walks.

Anna Anderson
In 1925, Olga, Dmitry and Colonel Kulikovsky travelled to Berlin to meet Anna Anderson, who claimed to be Olga's niece and Dmitry's youngest sister, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Apprehensive about the success of the trip, Dmitry wrote to his mother Empress Dowager Alexandra Feodorovna that "he was sure that this woman could possibly be Anastasia", the Grand Duchess had died when her home was attacked by German troops with Anastasia being left to die alone in the bitter and grueling Russian winter. Dmitry harbored hopes that Anna Anderson could possibly be Anastasia, even writing to his mother to "Pray that our little imp, our little darling will come back safe and intact. For there is nothing more in the world than having Anastasia back in our arms, safe and sound. Like she should be." Anderson had attempted suicide in Berlin in 1920, this horrified the religious Dmitry who immediately determined that she could not be Anastasia, as she was afraid of death ever since she had a near-fatal fall in 1914, yet he hoped that she was indeed Anastasia. Olga was of the same thought as him, with the two of them hoping that she was indeed Anastasia. Dmitry wrote to inform Princess Irene his maternal aunt of his scheduled visit to Anna Anderson stating, "I harbor hopes that my dearest sister Anastasia is indeed this woman, Anne Anderson. Whether she is indeed an imposter or my sweet little sister shall remain to be determined at a later date. If she is indeed alive, we have a reason to celebrate, if not this confirms that forces from the German Empire did indeed kill her. No matter how much it pains me to pain you, I will write constantly to inform you about the news we receive." His aunt whom he was traveling with to see Anna Anderson Olga Alexandrovna learned of the letter that he wrote to Princess Irene and repermainded her nephew, Dmitry informed he that he was simply informing his family. After meeting Anna Anderson, Dmitry's fears were immediately realized - she was not his youngest sister. The slim hopes that he harbored of Anastasia being alive were instantly and ruthlessely destroyed, he immediately wrote to the Danish ambassador Herluf Zahle at the end of October 1925 stating: "This imposter is not Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of the Russian Empire and all it's territories. She is simply a common German citizen of the former Kaiser's Empire. I am extremely disappointed to not find Anastasia alive and well, further judgment will be withheld in regards to her fate in impersonating a member of the Imperial Russian dynasty." Disappointed by the results of the visit, Dmitry angerly left Germany and returned to Russia, where he wrote his aunt Princess Irene a final letter [before the death of the Princess] informing him of the death of Anastasia. Czarina Berengaria was hurt and saddened by the news of Anastasia's death, breaking down in tears after learning about Anastasia's death alongside her husband. As a result of her impending death, her children were sent to stay at the court of Anastasia's eldest brother, Dmitry I. As they were only mere babies when their mother was killed, Dmitry chose not to tell them about the death of their parents [fearing that they would not understand] and raised them both as his own children, alongside his biological children. The late Czarina Berengaria [before her death] was resentful towards her husband for the decision and often acted cold to the children.